Prohibited second life
by Tala Medori
Summary: This is the story of Salayla, the reincarnation of Eve after her soul was stolen from heaven so the truth can be found out about her death. But when she meets Ayanami strange feelings start to emurge. It is set after chapter 53 so may contain spoiles
1. Chapter 1 Salayla

_Hello. i'm Tala. This is the first story i have written on here, so please review your honest thoughts._

**Hi. I'm Medori. I'd just like to say that we do not own 07 ghost or any of its charaters. We only wrote this to show our imagination to others.**

_What do you mean _**_we_**_. I wrote this!_

**Yes but we are a bit skitsofrenic.**

_Well, it has never been proven. But please enjoy the story._

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_All is going well,_ I thought. _Those old military coots didn't know what hit them. _The explosion had hid my intentions. _And as long as The Eye of Gabriel can hide both his own, and The Eye of Michael's energy, there was no reason why I can't pull this off._ Trying to look as innocent as possible, I had caught my arm in the blast. The blood that trickled down me saved from blame when the medical offices arrived. After a once over with healing zaiphon and dressing the wound, I was free to go back to the temporary accommodation.

"So how did it go Salayla?" Kura asked as soon as he was certain no-one else could hear.

"Good." I replied, giving him a menacing look with my brown eyes, firmly closing the subject.

Four pairs of eyes, belonging to the other people in the room, lit up with triumph. Though I strictly forbad speaking of the successful steal of The Eye from the Barsburg Empire, it didn't stop Dezra from letting an excited giggle slip out, her long dark brown hair falling over her face. Kayra, Caylib and Atona's faces were alight with happiness. Finally after ten years of waiting, scheming and gathering up information, our home land, The Kingdom of Raggs, was one step closer to being resurrected.

The pain insured that the memory never left. I was only about seven when Raggs was attacked. A year earlier, my older brother had run off with his friends who were Sky Pirates much to my family's disgust. We were the family of a House of God, so he was pretty much disowned. Barsburg was not stupid enough to attack a House of God, but my parents were at a friend's place. I was being teased by them because my zaiphon was a manipulation one, which was unheard of in the family. Being sick of their laughter, I started to walk home. About half way home was when the bomb hit. Sprinting back, I was too late. Moving the house beams was easy with my zaiphon but by the time I found them, everyone was dead but mother. When she saw me her eyes lit up. As I kneeled over her, tears streaming down my face she made faint gurgling noise as she tried to speak. She put her hand in mine, placing a bag in it. With a last faint smile, the light faded from her eyes. Rage suddenly consumed me and I vowed to take vengeance on whoever did it. Balling up my fists I felt the pouch. Curiosity distracting me from the rage but not the pain, I opened it up and looked inside. That's how I meet Gabriel.

There was one job they had left to do, the ultimate alibi. The King of Barsburg had decided to have a meeting with the Pope. Kayra and Dezra had been working their magic for months. After gaining favour with the King by protecting him from an attempted assassination, they convinced him to let us all be his body guards. With Atona, Caylib, and Kayra's offensive, Kura and Dezra's healing, and my manipulation zaiphon we were immediately accepted, much to the disgust of the military. But Caylib was a master at faking documents, so there was nothing anyone could say about it. All we had to do is be the Kings guards while he talked to the Pope. Easy as pie.

I never saw the Pope's face. The veil was too thick. I'm surprised he didn't trip coming up the steps towards us. Though it was agreed between them to only have six guards each, the king had positioned about 30 soldiers out the back, ready to move on the order. One of the Pope's guards caught my eye. His left arm was alive with manipulative zaiphon under the flowing white robe they all wore. Of all the other bishops he was clearly the strongest. As they came closer, a dreadfully familiar cold swept over me. I tried hard to control the expression on my face as I realised he was one of the 7 ghosts. I forced down panic as the formalities began between Pope and King, Bodyguard and Bishop. The last two ghosts I had meet had been the traitors Ea and Randkalt, and it wasn't pleasant. I pushed my fair deeper as I shook his hand, looking past the veil and glasses into his brown eyes.

_Don't worry Salayla, I will protect you._

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes; Gabriel was putting his nose in as usual.

_He has kind eyes,_ I thought. _Seems like a nice guy._

Gabriel snorted, but said no more.

As we moved into the fortress, the formalities ended and the snide remarks begun.

"What is with the young guard?" The Pope started, voice formal, but clearly hinting that we were inadequate.

The King's face was unchanged by this, and judging by his answer he had dismissed the subject.

"They are more than enough."

Looking over at my friends, I noticed Kayra, who is easily offended, was struggling to control her anger. Hoping no-one would notice I sent her a message with my zaiphon. It made her smile. When we got to the room where they were to have their conversation it was arranged that only one from each guard would go with them. Kayra followed them in with one of the bishops and the door was firmly closed behind them. I picked up one of the chairs and sat by the opposite wall to everyone else so I could keep an eye on the bishops. Just as I got comfortable the ghost/bishop came and sat next to me. It was strait up awkward.

"Hello, I'm Bishop Castor." He announced, offering his hand with a kind smile.

"Salayla." I retorted rudely, ignoring his hand.

The smile didn't leave his face as he dropped his hand. Experience had taught me that the only people I could rely on were my friends.

"Nice defusing of the situation earlier with your friend." He said in a low voice, still smiling.

Ignoring him again, I got a book out of my pocket and busied myself with reading it.

_So he noticed,_ I thought.

_Well yea he is the 'tying ghost'. He is attuned to your type of zaiphon._ Gabriel inserted.

_Mmm._

"Well," Bishop Caster tried again, "you're certainly a lot more powerful than your friends."

This one worked. I hated people who belittled my friends. I snapped my book shut.

"What do you want?" I venomously whispered at him.

"I want to know what a bunch of incredibly powerful Raggs teenagers are doing protecting the king that is responsible for their countries ruin." He replied with that irritating smile still stuck to his face.

I snorted, "Do you really thing he is responsible for that, Fest?"

That dislodged the grin off his face. I flicked through my book trying to find my page again, the corner of my mouth pulling up. I suddenly looked up; hearing a noise under the murmur of everyone else's talking. It came from the room where Kayra, the King and the Pope were. I was out of my seat so fast only Bishop Caster saw me. Using zaiphon to open the door before I got there, I rushed in only to freeze instantly. As people filed in behind me, my body screamed at me to be afraid, but shock was the only thing I felt. As I came back to my sensors, Bishop Caster stiffened behind me and hissed so low that only I could hear, "Ayanami!"

_Salayla, get out of here,_ Gabriel suddenly popped up, _if he finds out you are Eve reborn...!_


	2. Chapter 2 parting of ways

**Sorry for the wait but we hope you enjoy it!**

_And **I **dont own 07 ghost or any of its charaters._

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"Sorry for the intrusion," Ayanami said in an ice cold monotone voice. "But I wish to report that The Eye of Michael was stolen from its safe during last night's explosion."

There was a shocked silence in the room. As far as I knew the King didn't even know about The Eye. But here was the Chief of Staff announcing it not only to him, but also the Pope that it was not only found, but also lost again. He was obviously planning something.

_Well, this information might start a war between the King and Pope,_ I thought to Gabriel.

Gabriel milled this over for a second before replying. _They don't have enough trust in each other to let this one slide. The Pope will accuse the King of withholding information, and the King would probably say he knew nothing about it .Anyway we should go._

Ignoring his last comment, I studied everyone's reaction. The King was in a state of shocked fury, while the Pope struggled to contain his triumph.

_So the Pope knows._

While throwing a quick glance and a smirk at Bishop Caster, Ayanami gave me a quick glance. I frowned at him as he diverted his piercing violet glaze away. This was the guy responsible for the death of thousands of innocent people, including Kura's family, but I wasn't feeling any type of emotion but confusion. Dismissing himself, he walked out onto the deck and flew away on an awaiting hawkzile.

_Why'd he look at me? He can't know, right?_

_I think it was more the fact that you noticed him come through the window; it was way too quiet for a normal human to hear. _Gabriel replied.

Coming back to earth, I noticed the mood hanging over the two 'top' men at the table. It was murderous and about to implode. Like someone had flicked a switch, all bodyguards flew to the sides of their superior. I didn't really want to fight here but Kura had started fuming from the sight of Ayanami and Kayra was still itching to get back at the Pope for his snide remarks. And all the Bishops were livid at what they had just heard.

"You cheating, lying (bad word starting with B). You found the Eye but we from the church heard nothing of it?" the Pope said, deadly serious.

The King flushed at his own ignorance. "I didn't know, the Black Hawks never mentioned..."

"That is no excuse!"

Then the shouting match began. Accusations flew back and forward. Pretty soon my friends and the bishops were all at it too. From my vantage point beside the king, I could keep an eye on everyone, preferring not to get involved. One of the bishops and Kayra were having a particularly bad squabble. When they resorted to zaiphon, I knew I had to intervene.

"ENOUGH!" I hollered at the top of my lungs, fanning out my own zaiphon to create a shield between Kayra and the bishop. That certainly got everyone's attention, save for Bishop Castor, who was examining my zaiphon with interest.

"This meeting was organised so you two," I shot a death look at the Pope and King, "can talk about relevant matters! Not act like spoilt pre-school children fighting over a toy!"

The message must have got through, because for the rest of the meeting, the Eye of Michael wasn't mentioned again.

"Well, _that_ was interesting." Atona said her light brown eyes scrunched up with annoyance.

Everybody was still on edge from the fight. It was now the next day and we were on our way to pick up our hawkzile from storage and head out of the city.

"Ayanami certainly got what he wanted." Sighed Caylib, brushing his unruly blond hair out of his large grey eyes.

"Yea, a distraction so they won't see his movements." Kura snapped.

I was highly irritated, to put it lightly. "He turned a set back into an advantage."

When we reached storage, a sudden sadness overwhelmed me. The plan was that when we were out of the city I was to split off from the rest and search for Wahrheit Tiashe Raggs. Being the only one who's seen him before, having a faster ride than everyone else and being able to communicate with The Eye of Michael meant I was the one given the job. A big group would draw more attention. The only bright side was that I wouldn't be totally alone. As I walked up to my ride a voice rang through my head.

"Hi Sa. Long time no see!"

"Shut up, Ash." I hissed hitting the wind shield on his head. "You are supposed to be acting as a hawkzile."

"Yea, yea." The disguised fyulong dragon muttered mockingly.

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, we checked out and headed for the edge of the city.

"We'll see you around." Dezra and Kayra called, waving as they speed off. If Kayra wasn't so tall she and Dezra could be mistaken for sisters. Though Kayra has dark blond shoulder blade length hair and cool blue eyes and Dezra has brown eyes, their body shape (which was that of models), posture and personality were identical.

"Yea, bye." Caylib smiled as he and Atona followed on their hawkzile.

Kura walked up to me, a slight blush on his face.

"I want you to have this." He mumbled, sliding something warm into my hand.

I looked down to see a Connection Stone in my hand. They are special stones that come in two perfectly fitting halves that stay warm, as long as the bearer of the other half's soul is still on this earth. I didn't know what to say.

"This is so I always know that you are ok. See ya"

With that he leaped onto his hawkzile and speed after the others, leaving an astonished me in the dust.

"Come on Sa, pull your jaw off the ground and lets go." Ash called impatiently.

"Shut up." I said, an embarrassed blush heating up my face.


	3. Chapter 3 annoying coincidence

_Ok so here is the next chapter. I know I am releasing them close together but I just really happy about the review by Lea Andrews._

**Yes, we would like to thank Lea muchly. And we welcome ****reviews from any readers we have.**

_Also, **I **dont own 07 ghost or any of its charaters._

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After a day of travel I sold off Ash's hawkzile wind shields, they were unnecessary weight. The rain we passed through on the second day washed off the black paint. Being only thirty years old, he was still considered a child. He was the size of a pony, large enough to fly with two people on his back easily. We covered ground quickly.

I wanted to be reasonably far from the capital of the first district before I tried to speak with The Eye of Michael. On the third day we reached the border.

"Ok, I'll see you on the other side." I said as we parted ways before town.

"Don't get into any trouble," Ash called as he flew away. "Keep your nose out of others business."

"Like-wise!"

Fyulong pass through anywhere they want, being wild animals. But a human on its back would draw a lot of attention. So I was to pass through the border at the bottom. Also if we were spotted in another country it would be specious if I didn't pass through the border. But it was incredibly slow. Just as the sun went down I finally got a ride through the gate. Upon seeing my ID the guard saluted, which was embracing, because I was technically his superior by being a guard of the king. When I reached the other side, the last three days of flying caught up with me. Half an hour later, in a zombie like stupor, I trudged around the pretty much deserted streets looking for an inn. A cold breeze blew up the street, slightly waking me to the fact that I was in a pretty dodgy place. It was facing a brick wall at the end of an alley way. The light from the street didn't reach this far. I turned around and started to trudge back the way I came when the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood on end. A chillingly death like voice rang down the alley, ripping me into full awareness.

"So- soul." something rasped. "Give me your SOUL!"

Blackness filled the air in front of me, blocking the only light. It was a Wars.

Now, I'm not trying to sound ungrateful for everything he has done, but I really don't like Gabriel. He was acquainted with Verloren before the whole killing the daughter of the Chief of Heaven thing started. Maybe they were even friends. Anyway, God called Eve's sole back to him before Verloren could get it. _So_ Verloren escapes to earth and murders heaps of people there, before God steps in and creates seven other Death Gods out of Verloren fragments called the 07 Ghosts. They split his body, soul, memories and scythe, using the Eye's of Michael and Raphael to protect the body and memories, and the 07 Ghosts protected the scythe. His soul was to roam earth for all eternity, being reincarnated. But Gabriel thinks there is more to the story than that, so he steals Eve's soul and brings it to earth, so he can put it in a human body and access her memories of the incident. He finds a mother with a stillborn baby, inserts Eve's soul and, viola, I am created. Too bad I can't remember a thing about my past life. The reason I don't like is the fact that he's only interested in my memories. But being Eve had its benefits. Like the huge, as tall as me, sword somehow imbedded in my right arm (I don't really see how it fits, especially with Gabriel's Eye taking up the hand).

So, taking down one Wars was easy enough. It sent a blob of darkness rocketing at me, missing by miles as I dodged to the left. I leaped for a head on attack and it came leaping up at me. Using my zaiphon, I pulled myself further left and swung the sword for a death blow. Landing behind it I turned to watch as it disappeared. Hearing a noise from above I looked up to see a silhouette of a person on the roof. I reached out with my sensors to find out who it was. What I found almost made me groan in frustration.

"Nice sword." Bishop Caster said, dropping down in front of me and leaning on the wall, his immense height blocking the whole exit.

Now that the Wars was gone my tiredness came back, and brought grumpiness with it.

"Are you stalking me?" I asked accusingly.

"No," he replied, that annoying smile back on his face again, "just a coincidence."

He walked up to me real casually, and real suspicious looking.

"How do you know of me?" He asked. "And why do you have the Sword of Eve?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

My difficulty annoyed him, his glasses flashing.

"Ok then. What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find a place to sleep."

"I meant here in this city."

"I know. Not meaning to be rude," I said in the rudest tone possible, "but I need to find an inn."

"You remind me of someone I know." Bishop Caster said thoughtfully.

Ignoring him, I moved to duck his outstretched arm. He made a sudden grab for my hand, and slowed by fatigue I couldn't pull away fast enough.

"How fast were you travelling to get here the same time as me, even though you left a day later?" he asked, his face turning serious.

"That is none of your business." I snapped struggling to free my hand.

Suddenly a bright revolution lit up his face.

"Why don't you stay at the church tonight?"

Admittedly it was a good idea, but I was too stubborn to go with the strange stalker bishop.

"I'd rather sleep on the street than go with you." I snarled, resorting to zaiphon to prize off his fingers but he simply grabbed my upper arm and started to walk out of the alley and down the street.

"Come on. It's only a few blocks over."

I was about to protest again, but the feeling of a couple of Wars close by washed over me again. Looking over my shoulder I saw dark shadows moving around the edges of street lights. Suddenly understanding why Caster was trying to get me into a church, I tried to step up my pace, only to trip up on my sluggish feet, his arm the only thing keeping me from falling down. Flying here had been irritating; the bad weather prevented me from sleeping properly. Ash could keep going for at least four days before feeling tired. Every time I closed my eyes, he had hit a piece of turbulence that jolted me awake again.

But even in this situation now, being followed by Wars, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I knew if I tripped again they would probably be upon us, but I had used up the last of my adrenalin on the first one.

"We are here." Caster said suddenly, in a false cherry voice.

The relief that wash over me brought black with it.


	4. Chapter 4 pushy people

_Hey, here is another update, please bare with me. it gets more interesting in the next few chapters._

**Well, that's what you think.**

_Its really up to the readers to decide._

**And just remember, we do not own 07 ghost or any of the charaters.**

_Unless i made them up of cause._

**And sorry for any spelling mistakes, that's our majour weak point.**

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"She mustn't have stopped at all to reach here that fast."

"Are you sure she is the same person?"

"Yes,"

"And you think the Wars were after her because of Eve's sword."

"I don't know how she got it, but it came out of her arm like our scythes do."

"Did she not realise how many Wars and Kor were out there?"

"When I got there she looked about ready to drop."

What a strange dream, I thought.

"And the fact she knew what you are is unusual."

"Well, I tried to check her memories but they were blocked by something. So if she was told or can tell somehow I don't know."

"Hmm."

There was the sound of footsteps down a corridor, and the voices stopped. The creek of a door opening, and another whispered voice joined the first two.

"I can't believe she has been asleep for a whole 24 hours.

Whole day? I thought. Then it dawned on me, Ash was probably worried.

I sat bolt upright, scaring the daylights out of the nun in front of the bed. I looked around to see the alarmed faces of Caster and another Bishop, who had light violet hair glinting slightly in the dim lamp light and matching eyes. He was another one of the 07 Ghosts. They were wearing strange black travelling clothes.

"Thank you for your hospitality," I said to the Nun. "But I really have to go."  
I leaped out of bed and realised I didn't have any boots on. They were nowhere to be seen.

"But wait miss," The nun flustered. "You have only just woken up. Aren't you hungry?"

About to open my mouth and say no, stomach betrayed me by doing the loudest growl possible. I blushed.

"I am meeting up with someone, and I'm very late. I'll eat along the way."

"I'm sure they will make an exception. You should wait for morning."

"Morning?"

With the curtains closed, I had no idea what the time was. I thought maybe it was noon at the most.

"Excuse me sister," the other Bishop said. "May we please speak with Salayla privately please?"

She smiled and happily agreed, closing the door behind her with a soft click. Looking at the curtains I felt the presents of Wars outside the perimeter of the church, and not too far away was a Warsfell.

So do you think they know we have The Eye, I asked silently.

Maybe. You did have it when we saw Ayanami. Oh and your shoes are under his seat.

But you were meant to be blocking any traces of it.

"Hello, I'm Bishop Labrador." The violet haired bishop announced, interrupting my inwards conversation.

"Hi," I replied, since he already knew my name.

"It takes four days on a hawkzile non-stop. How did you get here so fast?" Caster asked again.

"I flew." I replied sarcastically, thinking about how I was going to get past the Wars.

Caster rolled his eyes.

"Are you going to answer any of my questions?"

"Only if you answer one of mine."

"Ok."

I smiled, finally having got one up on him.

"Can you please give me my boots?"

"Sorry I don't know where they are."

I laughed.

"So that's not them under your seat then." I said, careful not to make it sound like a question.

"No."

He suddenly got under my skin. I was tired of his stupid questions.

"How did you get Eve's Sword?"

"Have you ever considered that it's not your business?" I snapped.

Sending out a fast string of zaiphon, I grabbed my boots out from under his seat and proceeded to put them on. I held in a triumphant laugh when I saw the amazement on his and Bishop Labrador's face from the speed of my zaiphon.

"Wait," Bishop Labrador said quietly.

Almost against my will I slowly sat up, both of my boots now on.

"There is a Warsfell out there." He said with a concerned look on his face.

I was starting to feel bad for my rudeness. Something about his eyes broke through my hard exterior.

"Yea, I know. But I really have to go."

"Who is waiting for you?"

Suddenly I remembered that they might consider me their enemy since I worked for the King. So I went cryptic.

"My ride."

There was a flash of disappointment on Bishop Labrador's face.

I stood up, having had enough of that. They didn't move to stop me as I walked for the door.

It was a small church. The courtyard was bustling with nuns going about their evening chores. I was thing about how to get out when I walked full blast into someone very tall. Stumbling backwards and about to fall into a fountain, I grabbed for something, finding someone's arm. Looking round, I saw the tall thing I walked into, and almost let go in shock.

Not only was he another of the Ghosts and was also wearing black, but he had the weirdest curl of blond hair falling over the side of his face, part covering the strangest dazed expression. The urge to find a pair of scissors and cut the ringlet off almost over powered me.

"Sorry bout that." He apologised, wiping the bemused look off his face with an unconvincing smile.

I pulled myself up, rubbing my nose where it hit his chest.

"No problem." I said, turning around and walking the way I came.

I had an idea. Breaking into a run, I took the stairs two at a time, heading for the roof. On the top floor I boosted myself out a window. The roofs pitch was too steep to get up on, so I sent a few strands of my zaiphon over the top to grip the gutter on the other side. Walking up to the top, I looked over the town. It was unnaturally dark, the moon and stars hidden behind billowing masses of black clouds. Coming to the conclusion that eyes would be useless, I used my zaiphon as feelers to find the closest roof without a Wars on it. They seemed to be concentrated around the gate, but there were a few spots that seemed like traps. The Wars were positioned so there were large clear spots, but they all had easy access to them.

Gabriel?

Yes? He replied in a tired voice.

Can you please hide your presences? I pleaded as nicely as possibly.

Fine.

Feeling no different, but trusting Gabriel, I silently jumped to the next roof. I hoped to use the pitch black to my advantage. There was a Wars on this one, but it couldn't see or sense me so I silently crept past it. My zaiphon was stretched too thin to create any light but I could feel for about a 100 meter radius. For about an hour I carried on this process, making sure to stay as far away from the Warsfell as possible.

_Why are they here?_ I wondered.

There was no answer.


	5. Chapter 5 They are stalking me

_sorry for the long wait but i have finally finished this chapter._

**She is lying, we finished it ages ago but got caught up on reading other peoples cool stories.**

_Shhh, they aren't suppost to know._

**We don't like being sued so just remember that we don't own 07 ghost or any of its charaters.**

* * *

I finally reached the edge of town. Jumping down from the last roof, I sprinted along the road side. Our meeting place was not too far away from here, a clearing in not too far into the start of a forest. We had all stayed there last time we passed through. It seemed like so long ago, but in reality it was only six months ago. Dezra's reliably source in the military and given us the information on the whereabouts of The Eye. So we travelled towards First District to investigate and stopped here for the night.

But as I approached a bad feeling was starting to come over me. As I pushed past the first trees I should have been able to feel Ash's presence by now, but there was only a few sleeping animals. Hiding behind a thick trunk, I peered around it into the clearing. There was less in it than in a cookie jar that had been left on the bench for a week. No grass grew there, only rough hewn dirt that was barely distinguishable in the slight grey light given off by the yet to rise sun.

It was the total opposite to the large, green, lush clearing full of wild flowers it was before. It looked like it had been dug up by pigs, but the dangerous aura coming from it was similar to a Warsfell. Not really wanting to be found, I crept back the way I had come, hoping that Ash was ok. Our backup plan was to meet 10 miles to the north, so when I was far enough away from the clearing not to feel the bad vibes, I started a leisurely jog north.

When the sun came up an hour later I thought was roughly the ten miles north and was starting to get really worried when I finally felt Ash's presence. He was approaching me rapidly from the east. Looking up, I saw the sun shining on a tiny pink speck in the distance. It was getting larger by the second. A minute later Ash landed, panting from his fast flying.

"Ash!" I laughed, running over to give him a hug.

Before I could put my arms around his neck, his head flashed round and pushed me on my back. I was frozen in shock as he pinned me under his sharply clawed foot.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS?" His voice ripped through my mind, immediately causing a splitting head ache.

"First I go to the meeting place to see a Warsfell and a lot of Wars there, I came out here and waited for a whole day with no sign of you! So I went to town last night and saw it over-run with the Wars! Then you appear here at this time, meaning you went past the Wars in the middle of the NIGHT! DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGERIOUS THAT IS?"

I knew why Ash was so angry. Not long after we first meet I was attacked by a Wars and was badly injured. Being only six at the time, he seemed to think that I was still at the same level.

"I'm sorry." I pleaded. "I was tired and stopped for a kip but way over slept."

I left the whole fight with the Wars thing out, not wanting to upset him more. He was milling over what I just said, clearly not convinced that was all that happened.

"Fine," he sighed letting me up. "Let's get away from this place."

I stood up and stretched, when Ash's tongue flicked out and got me square in the face.

"Eewww!" I exclaimed, laughing as I pushed him away. "That's just nasty. I don't know where your tongue has been!"

He just laughed at me, if you could call it that. The noise Ash made was closer to a growl but if you knew him long enough, it was easy to tell the difference. That's when I felt a presence behind me.

"Watch out ma-am," a voice called out.

Just when I was struggling to remember where I had heard that voice before, a black thing topped with blond hair flew out from behind a tree.

"I will save you from this wild attacking beast." It said, a golden spiral hanging over its face.

"Hey," I said, remembering his as the bishop from beside the fountain. "Wa..."

Before I could finish 'wait' he jumped at Ash, his zaiphon spinning in his hand. Before I could fully comprehend what was going on I shot my zaiphon at him, smothering his attack as it wrapped around him and flung him back at the tree. In the same movement I jumped in front of Ash, landing in a defensive position. The bishop hit the tree upside-down with a loud 'thud', sliding down and landing on his head, which made a strangely hollow noise.

It dawned on me that he probably thought that Ash was growling at me like he was about to attack, but I wasn't going to take any chances. Anyone who attacked my friends was considered an enemy.

A groan suddenly came from the bottom of the tree. Just as he sat up, I felt the other two bishops/ghosts approaching. A scowl was creeping its way onto my face.

There is no way this is coincidence, I thought.

Ha ha, Salayla has stalkers, Gabriel chuckled.

Some great help you are.

Sure enough, a few seconds later Bishop Caster and Labrador appeared around the trees, a confused look on their faces when they saw the other dazed bishop on the ground.

"Are you ok Lance?" Bishop Labrador asked, offering a hand to him.

"Yes I'm fine." He said.

Then he caught sight of Ash behind me.

"Watch out kid!" he shouted. "That thing was about to attack you!"

I felt anger bubbling.

Did he just call me a kid? I'm 17! He also called Ash a thing!

"Watch who you are calling kid, ugly old man." I retorted, sending him a death glare.

"Ugly old man?" he asked with a majorly forced smile on his face that didn't reach his suddenly angry eyes. "You shouldn't be in the woods alone little girl. It's filled with dangerous animals. Go home to your mother."

"Oh yea?" I fumed. "Why don't you come say that to my face? Or are you afraid this little girl will kick your crippled arse again?"

My baiting worked.

"Why you little...!" he started, trying to come at me, only to be blocked by Castor.

"So, is that your ride?" Caster asked, clearly trying to defuse the situation.

"Yes, and I would appreciate it if you keep your _old _friend there under control. I don't like people who attack my friends."

"Friend?" Bishop Lance asked as he tried to side step Castor. "It was growling as you, about to attack!"

"No I wasn't!" Ash snorted. "I was laughing. You need to get your ears checked."

As look of surprise crossed over all of their faces, a sudden chill ran down my back and I swung round to see where it was coming from.

"It talks?" Lance asked.

"Yes and thank you for talking so loud earlier." A voice came from within the shade of the trees, bringing another wave of cold with it. The Warsfell from town.


End file.
